"I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the earth," said one villager in Siripura, Associated Press reports.

"I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain."

The Sri Lankan Red Cross tweeted that more than 200 families were feared buried in the mud, but later said reports suggested many of the missing had made their way to relief camps.

Maj Gen Sudantha Ranasinghe, who is in charge of rescue operations in Aranayake, told BBC Sinhala: "There are around 1,100 people now in the four camps we have set up."

Police confirm they have also recovered three bodies at the village of Bulathkohupitiya, scene of another landslide in the district. Sixteen people are also missing.

President Maithripala Sirisena is visiting the Kegalle area to meet victims' families.

Image copyrightAFPImage caption
Hundreds of personnel are helping rescue flood victims, including this resident of the capital Colombo

Meanwhile, officials in other badly-hit parts of the island have appealed to the public to send water, dry food rations and sanitary items for those affected.

In southern India the authorities have been put on alert as the heavy rains are forecast to move on to Chennai and parts of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Fishermen have been warned against going to sea and rescue teams are on standby.

At least 280 people died in a month of heavy rains and floods in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu last year. The rains, the heaviest there in a century, were blamed on climate change although city officials were also criticised for being unprepared.

Other parts of India have been suffering a severe drought in recent weeks.